Exercising with perimenopausal joint pain

[SeasonsGreasons]

I've had mild and sporadic joint pain for a few years now. I went to the GP and all my bloods are fine, no deficiencies or inflammatory markers or anything like thar. GP referred me to rheumatology just in case as I have psoriasis, but consultant was confident my joint pain is perimenopausal, not having any other peri symptoms, she said all women my age (48) are perimenopausal!

Recently I've had knee pain for a few weeks which has now gone. Then it was my ankle which is getting better, and now its my left hand's turn 🙄

I continue exercising despite the pain, as it doesn't make it any worse, in fact the pain seems totally unrelated to exercise and is more likely be worse with inactivity!

In my head this is ok as the pain is related to hormonal fluctuations and not any injury or inflammation.

But I just wanted to check this is OK and I'm not going to damage my joints somehow by exercising when I have pain?

What have others done with perimenopausal joint pain, did you continue exercising?

I get the same in my hip and knee (I’m 47). It’s definitely better when I exercise.

I started HRT two months ago and that has also lessened the pain.

Keep on exercising and get on HRT if you aren’t already using it.

I'm not sure about the HRT as I literally have no other symptoms and very regular periods. And the pain is sporadic, I had a several months with no pain at all and it's only since December that it's flared up again. I'm assuming it'll go again as quickly as it arrived, and I'll be fine again.

Do you stretch and do yoga or similar? It's made a massive difference to me this year since I started HRT.

I had a few years of tennis elbow, ligament pain, tendinitis etc. I carried on regardless. Bought a strap for my arm so I could still do my weights without my arm hurting too much.

I do stretches after exercising but no yoga or anything like that. But it's a good idea, maybe I should give that a go as well.

Try a supplement such as Glucosamine sulphate, or vitamin D

I already take vitamin D between October- March. I'll look into Glucosamine sulphate, not heard of that before.

IIRC it helps strengthen the ligaments that hold your bones together (or something much more scientific than that!)